Untitled doc (2004)
In late 2004 it seemed to be a critical time for me. I had a lot going on personally at the church I was working within & was still rethinking some things regarding the church. I wrote the following piece and I don't think I ever posted it anywhere publicly (til now).
Re-reading this is like looking into a window in my life. I was a receiving a lot of criticism for asking questions at the time. Words like emergent, postmodern and such were buzzing and I was able to articulate my small judgmental (what I call narrowmindedness in the doc) and though I never published this (I don't think I did) it's interesting that it's written in such a way as I'm reaching out and connecting with a community out there in the world who'd been with me on the journey from my first rant up to that point.
Time does weird things to writers, or at least to me. There are times when I've looked back at things I've written years before and wondered to myself, did I really write that? A few times this has happened when I've been publicly quoted, but most often it happens when I'm reading something in my files. This is one of those things. It feels like it was written by someone else. To be honest it seems like something Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi) would right at the time. So I read it like a detective. Did I write this? Who uses words like "radical empiricism"? William James was driven into me by my philosophy teacher at OBU. that feels like me. etc. You get the idea. It's a tad weird to say this, but I like a few of these lines so much, that I question whether I have the capacity to actually write this kind of thing.
Just a glimpse into my mind today as I read this again. Maybe I'm the only guy who puts words together that has felt this way.
This is something I wrote in 2004. thoughts?
============================================
Confessions leaders and pastors, reimagining Church.
1. We'll confess that we are often cynical, whether it be from a past hurt or a Radical Empiricism.
2. We'll confess that we are often optimistic and hopeful. That it's our great love for God and Jesus as proclaimed in the scripture that propells us toward living the way we do, and believing about what we believe. Often this leads to Idealism.
3. We'll confess that in our desire for faithfulness and enthusiasm for new ways of living out the Kingdom of God, we are often guilty of the very same narrowmindedness that we say we have left.
4. We'll confess that we need humility in these matters. We need to hold great convictions and simultaneously live with, what my friend calls "a posture of I don't know".
5. We'll confess that we will likely do good, badly. That we will live rightly, wrongly.
6. We'll confess that we are optimistic about the mutual admiration of the various faces of the Church. This leads us to diving headlong into discussions on the Bible, the church and philosophy often with frustrating outcomes. Ironically, it is these outcomes that actually reinforce our cynical thinking about the Church, leading us toward narrowmindedness. (see #3)
7. We'll confess that we have nothing to prove, but we often live like we do.
8. We'll confess that it's hard to confess some of these things because we fear others will take them in a manner they are not meant and use them against us. (see #7)
Re-reading this is like looking into a window in my life. I was a receiving a lot of criticism for asking questions at the time. Words like emergent, postmodern and such were buzzing and I was able to articulate my small judgmental (what I call narrowmindedness in the doc) and though I never published this (I don't think I did) it's interesting that it's written in such a way as I'm reaching out and connecting with a community out there in the world who'd been with me on the journey from my first rant up to that point.
Time does weird things to writers, or at least to me. There are times when I've looked back at things I've written years before and wondered to myself, did I really write that? A few times this has happened when I've been publicly quoted, but most often it happens when I'm reading something in my files. This is one of those things. It feels like it was written by someone else. To be honest it seems like something Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi) would right at the time. So I read it like a detective. Did I write this? Who uses words like "radical empiricism"? William James was driven into me by my philosophy teacher at OBU. that feels like me. etc. You get the idea. It's a tad weird to say this, but I like a few of these lines so much, that I question whether I have the capacity to actually write this kind of thing.
Just a glimpse into my mind today as I read this again. Maybe I'm the only guy who puts words together that has felt this way.
This is something I wrote in 2004. thoughts?
============================================
Confessions leaders and pastors, reimagining Church.
1. We'll confess that we are often cynical, whether it be from a past hurt or a Radical Empiricism.
2. We'll confess that we are often optimistic and hopeful. That it's our great love for God and Jesus as proclaimed in the scripture that propells us toward living the way we do, and believing about what we believe. Often this leads to Idealism.
3. We'll confess that in our desire for faithfulness and enthusiasm for new ways of living out the Kingdom of God, we are often guilty of the very same narrowmindedness that we say we have left.
4. We'll confess that we need humility in these matters. We need to hold great convictions and simultaneously live with, what my friend calls "a posture of I don't know".
5. We'll confess that we will likely do good, badly. That we will live rightly, wrongly.
6. We'll confess that we are optimistic about the mutual admiration of the various faces of the Church. This leads us to diving headlong into discussions on the Bible, the church and philosophy often with frustrating outcomes. Ironically, it is these outcomes that actually reinforce our cynical thinking about the Church, leading us toward narrowmindedness. (see #3)
7. We'll confess that we have nothing to prove, but we often live like we do.
8. We'll confess that it's hard to confess some of these things because we fear others will take them in a manner they are not meant and use them against us. (see #7)
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